Egyptian Christians turned their fury against the army on Monday after at least 25 people were killed when troops crushed a protest using tactics that deepened public doubts about the military’s ability to steer Egypt peacefully toward democracy.

In the worst violence since Hosni Mubarak was ousted, armored vehicles sped into a crowd late on Sunday to break up a protest near Cairo’s state television. Online videos showed mangled bodies. Activists said corpses were crushed by wheels.

Tension between Muslims and minority Coptic Christians has simmered for years but has worsened since the anti-Mubarak revolt, which gave freer rein to Salafist and other strict Islamist groups that the former president had repressed.

The ruling military council called on the interim government to investigate the clashes urgently and said it would take necessary measures to maintain security, state TV said.

But much of the anger from Sunday’s violence targeted the army, accused by politicians from all sides of worsening social tension through a clumsy response to street violence and not giving a clear timetable for handing power to civilians.